Be with me Forever
by Peppermint Kiss
Summary: Kel and Dom have finally gotten into a relationship. But their relationship comes to an abrupt halt when the impossible happens. Angst, takes place after Lady Knight. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Forever **

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Except the plot.

* * *

Keladry of Mindelan strolled along the walls of Haven, the fort protecting the newly fortified town of New Hope inside. A broad-shouldered sergeant with blue eyes that reflected the sky walked up to stand next to Kel. 

"Enjoying the view?" Domitan of Masbolle dryly asked Kel.

"Certainly," Kel responded, keeping her face neutral. "I always skip my watch time simply to stroll up on the walls and watch Stormwings call me a whelp and other things worse than that, the ploughmen incessantly arguing with each other about how one's line is straighter than the others, and the soldiers trying to kill each other in practice. Oh, it's a grand view up here." She turned around and smiled at Dom, her hazel eyes sparkling wickedly.

"You're just too optimistic," Dom informed her before swiftly kissing her on the lips.

"Unexpected, Sergeant Domitan, unexpected!" Kel yelled after Dom as he ambled back down the way. "Latrine duty!"

Dom turned around. "You wound me so!" he mocked, dramatically clutching his hand over his heart.

"Neal has too much of an influence on Dom," Kel muttered to the sparrows that chirped around her. She really didn't mean it though, as his kiss still tingled on her lips.

The sun was shining down on whoever toiled out in the fields today; the birds were singing; and Kel could just spot Jump in the shadows of a wall eating his stolen lunch of sausages from the cooks. Kel smiled and shook her head at Jump. Jump would just never learn to properly ask for food.

Still smiling foolishly, Kel turned her thoughts to a certain sergeant, one with the bluest eyes Kel had ever seen. She and Dom had been in a relationship ever since they had returned from their "treacherous" trip to Scanra to take back Haven's refugees and children from the mage Blayce. They hadn't made love yet, but from the way the kisses were progressing…

"One day," Kel informed the leader of the sparrow flock, Nari. "One day."

* * *

Kel's watch continued otherwise uninterrupted, until the few sparrows chosen as scouts flew back to Kel, shrieking an alarm. "Arrow, report," Kel ordered, immediately dropping all of her daydreams about Dom. "How many?" 

After a few brief seconds of quizzing Arrow and the other sparrow scouts, Kel concluded that there was a Scanran warrior party of about fifty-five, headed towards Haven from the woods in the northwest. Arrow also reported two shamans in the party, and they had veiled the party in a thick fog so they couldn't be seen.

"Just what we need," Kel muttered as she shouted orders to the soldiers along the walls. "More cursed Scanrans on such a beautiful day."

The recent discovery that Stormwing arrows made handy mage-killers brought Tobe running up to Kel with her bow and quiver loaded with Stormwing and regular arrows. "Wait until the Scanrans get within sight on the fields and then pick your targets carefully!" Kel yelled, using the handy voice-pitching trick from Lord Raoul. "Don't waste arrows, because we've got none to spare!"

Satisfied that all the fighters would obey, she slipped on her griffin-feather band and scanned the woods for the Scanrans. Soon, the clopping of hooves sounded closer and the Scanrans burst through the woods. No arrows were loosed, and Kel cursed herself, forgetting the Scanran shamans had cloaked the Scanrans so they couldn't be seen.

Narrowing her eyes, Kel spotted the two shamans together at the edge of the woods where the fog rolled out of a cauldron they were chanting around. Fitting a Stormwing arrow to her bow, Kel loosed, and one fell with a cry of surprise. She quickly loaded another arrow and shot, her second arrow striking just as true as her first.

The fog gone, arrows rained onto the Scanrans from the walls of Haven. "Tobe!" Kel called without taking her eyes from the battle on the fields.

"Lady?"

"Tell Sir Merric, Sergeant Domitan, and Sergeant Yngvar's squads to arm up and get out to those Scanrans. Haven's archers can hold off here."

Tobe took off without another word, and Kel concentrated on seeing how the sergeants and her people fared.

* * *

The Scanrans battled relentlessly and died at the hands of archers or a swordsman. Kel turned her head just in time to see a whistling arrow fly through the air towards a soldier on horseback. Kel's heart caught as she recognized the horse to be Dom's. She barely had time to open her mouth to shout a warning when the arrow caught Dom in the back and he toppled off his horse. The Scanran who had shot the arrow roared his triumph. Kel automatically fit a griffin arrow to her bow and coldly shot him in the eye. He spun around with a cry and a civilian's arrow shot him in the back as he fell.

* * *

The remaining Scanrans fled shortly after that and the battle was won. 

Kel saddled Peachblossom and rode out once she made sure that a squad of civilians and a few soldiers who had not been fighting would collect the Scanran dead and burn them.

"Good job," she murmured to Merric as she passed them on her way out.

Merric furrowed his sweat-streaked brow in puzzlement. "Kel, where are you going---"

Kel didn't hear the last part. She was going to get Dom.

* * *

Peachblossom picked his way through the remains of the Scanran dead on the field. Kel didn't have to guide him—she doubted she could, anyways. It was as if she were in a trance. 

Their last kiss had been too soon.

At last, Peachblossom halted and gave a soft whinny to Kel to let her know that they were here. Dom's chestnut gelding was dead beside him, and Kel murmured a few words to the Yamani animal god to ease it's passing before turning her head to Dom.

His blue eyes were wide in shock and it took Kel all of her strength to take two fingers and gently close the blue eyes that had twinkled ever since he had met her…to close them forever.

To lose her sergeant, her friend, and her love forever.

Nari lit onto Kel's shoulder and a flurry of wings behind her told Kel that the rest of the sparrow flock had settled onto Peachblossom. Nari gave a soft peep to let Kel know that she would miss Dom too.

"We all will," Kel whispered as her grip on her Yamani emotions broke and she cried for the death of Domitan of Masbolle.

* * *

It took a while for Kel to regain her sense and to turn Dom over to pull out the death arrow in his back. Once she had snapped the arrow and pocketed the arrowhead, she turned Dom onto his back and started to load him onto Peachblossom for the ride back to Haven. In doing so, her hand brushed against his pocket, and she felt a hard, box-shaped object in there… 

It was a black velvet box.

Kel's fingers shook as she pried the box open. In gold script inside, it read:

_To my dearest Kel_

_Be with me forever_

A diamond ring shimmered underneath the words.

A tear rolled down Kel's cheek as she took out the ring and slipped it onto her finger.

"Oh, _Dom_…"

-_fin_-

* * *

A/N: _So I might do a little second chapter drabble thing, an angsty drabble on Dom's funeral. Review and tell me what you think, and whether or not I should do Dom's funeral! Hope you liked this! And by the way, Dom is dead. Nothing will change that, sorry!_


	2. Chapter 2 Epilogue

**Be With Me Forever - Epilogue**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Tortall, or any characters. They're all Tamora Pierce.

* * *

So many thoughts were running through Kel's mind.

_Dom. Her Dom, lying dead on the battlefield. Dom's beautiful eyes, now blank and dead. His warm skin, now cold to the touch._

They were all jumping to her mind now, when Dom was dead and Kel couldn't do anything else about it.

_Oh, Goddess, why did you do this to me? Why did you take Dom? We would be happy, we would be married…_

A silent tear slipped from Kel's eye and traveled down her nose. She stroked the shimmering ring on her finger, a ring that she would keep there forever as a tribute to Dom.

_Dom. His deep voice that laughed so many times. His soft lips, that kissed her and made her feel as if she were on fire. His smile, that made her heart turn over itself._

They were all gone.

Dom was gone.

* * *

Kel sat in her room at Haven, still dumbly staring at her hands and the diamond ring. She knew that Raoul and Neal would be coming soon for Dom's funeral, but she couldn't gather the strength to go out and greet them. Not when the world seemed so desolate and bleak without Dom.

"Kel!" A voice cried out, and Kel's best friend, Nealan of Queenscove, soon enveloped Kel into a hug. Neal's wife, Yuki, wasn't far behind. Just seeing Neal reminded Kel so much of Dom, especially the nose.

Neal stepped closer to Kel, and squinted into her face. "Kel, what's wrong? Why are you like this?"

They don't know.

"N-Neal…" Kel started out, stammering. She mentally cursed herself. Commanders never stammered.

"Tell me, Kel."

"…It's Dom, Neal. He's d-d-dead."

Hearing the painful truth being said aloud in her own voice made Kel forget all about stammering as she felt a fresh wave of anguish sweep over her as more tears fell from her eyes.

A thud on the floor told Kel that the news had fully sunk into Neal. "Dom? It can't be…I always disliked Dom because he called me Meathead, but Dom was the first one who taught me how to ride a horse. Dom…no."

Yuki stepped forward to lay a comforting arm around Neal's shoulders before walking over to Kel.

"Kel, be strong. The world is not over yet. I am sorry for your loss, but we are in the middle of a war, and one of the strongest commanders we have cannot be moping in her room. Think of all the children and families that are at Haven. Would you want them to die in another Scanran attack when you weren't looking, as a result of Dom's death?"

The gravity of Yuki's words hit Kel, and she forced herself to stand up. "Yuki, you're right. Thank you."

Kel pulled Neal up from the floor. "The funeral is scheduled at two this afternoon," she murmured before briskly striding out of the room, angrily trying to wipe away the tears that showed no signs of stopping.

* * *

A solemn clanging of bells from Haven's newly constructed bell tower marked when the final shovel of dirt was laid over Dom's grave. Kel gripped her simple bouquet of wildflowers picked from the field where the battle had occurred.

_Goddess, keep me strong. Let me get through this period of hardship._

Amazingly, a voice responded, a voice that rang with the bells of hunting hounds.

_Lady knight, you will survive. Follow your heart to be strong._

Kel bowed her head.

_Thank you, Goddess._

* * *

A/N: Well, that definitely concludes it, since this is THE END. I'm sorry if the ending was a little rushed, but I didn't want to write any more or else it would end up like random ramblings. Also sorry if Yuki was a bit OC and harsh, but that's just the way it is. Reviews are, as always, most appreciated!! 


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